Office of the Propagandist?

There are several indicators that we’re on the homestretch to election day. One of these is the increase, in quantity and audacity, of the black propaganda being hurled at us by other groups. Akbayan has long been on the receiving end of such propaganda so we’ve pretty much seen and heard it all. But some of what we’ve been hearing lately are proving to be quite interesting.

Take for instance, this text message forwarded to me by a friend. Let’s call her Nene:

“From 2004 to present, the 3 Akbayan congressmen authored a total of 49 bills or 16 bills each ave or 5 bills each per year. Walang naipasang batas! Nakakahiya!”

According to Nene, the text came from someone who currently works for Mike Defensor, a some-time assistant secretary at one of the offices under the Office of the President (OP) with the lofty ambition of occupying a top post in the Department of Agriculture post-May.

Compare this with the press statement of Babae Ka! Party-list, one of the dubious party-list groups that we have exposed as a Malacanang-backed front:

Sounds familiar, no? Rosalinda “Sally” Dagami is Babae Ka’s Chair and First Nominee who has admitted to media that many members of Babae Ka are employees of the OEA (Office of External Affairs, under the OP). Whilst Dagami and Babae Ka continue to vehemently deny being backed by or receiving funding from Malacanang, the PCIJ has recently released a report on a confidential official OEA memorandum requesting GMA for funding for a campaign to install a “pro-administration party-list bloc” in Congress. Babae Ka, according to that report, is one of these groups.

Now, let’s go to a Letter to the Editor published in PDI on April 21 entitled Akbayan’s Zoo. Here are some juicy quotes:

‘Oh yes, the accreditation of new party-list groups has made Akbayan skeptical, bordering on being panicky. Its leaders are now going berserk for fear of losing precious votes and one or even two seats in the House of Representatives; thus, seeing their perks, in the form of multimillion-pesos in pork barrel, reduced.

These so-called leaders have a tendency to believe that they are the only people on earth who have the skills to organize and educate the people. Certainly they can organize, mobilize and even arouse the masses. However, instead of serving the welfare of the people, they function only to protect the interest of their organizations and ideology. That’s their secret plot.

Akbayan has turned the House of Representatives into a zoo. The “zookeeper” must do something about this.’

The letter sent via email was by one Leonardo Kirk Galanza. A quick Google search of that name will lead you to three sites. One is the online version of the above L2E; another is a webpage listing the officers of a certain fraternity where Mr. Galanza is identified as the National Adviser; and another links to an old, May 5, 2005 news item by Sunstar.com on an unpaid overdue loan undertaken by the Baguio City Government. Mr. Galanza was quoted therein as he spoke in his capacity as “secretariat officer-in-charge” of no other than the Office of External Affairs.